MIT review says school didn’t target Aaron Swartz

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In this Jan. 30, 2009 photo, Internet activist Aaron Swartz poses for a photo in Miami Beach, Fla. Swartz was found dead Friday, Jan. 11, 2013, in his Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment, according to Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for New York's medical examiner. Swartz, 26, was scheduled to face trial on hacking charges in a few weeks. (AP Photo/The New York Times, Michael Francis McElroy) MANDATORY CREDIT; NYC OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT, NO ARCHIVE

This Dec. 8, 2012 photo provided by ThoughtWorks shows Aaron Swartz, in New York. Swartz, a co-founder of Reddit, hanged himself Friday, Jan. 11, 2013, in New York City. In 2011, he was charged with stealing millions of scientific journals from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an attempt to make them freely available. He had pleaded not guilty, and his federal trial was to begin next month. (AP Photo/ThoughtWorks, Pernille Ironside)

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology didn’t seek federal prosecution against free-information activist Aaron Swartz and remained neutral throughout the case, according to an internal review of the school’s actions.

The 26-year-old hanged himself in January as he faced a trial in Boston following allegations that he surreptitiously used MIT’s network to download millions of articles from a scholarly archive with the goal of making information free.

He was facing decades behind bars, and Swartz’s supporters said the prosecution was weighing heavily on him when he committed suicide in New York City.

Prosecutors said they offered a deal of four to six months in prison and have defended their actions.

In the aftermath of his death, friends and supporters suggested MIT wrongly assisted federal prosecutors in the legal case against Swartz.

MIT officials said the internal investigation raised concerns about policies and procedures but concluded that the school didn’t target Swartz, seek his federal prosecution or oppose a plea bargain. It found no wrongdoing on the school’s part.

Hal Abelson, the MIT computer science and engineering professor who headed the inquiry, said in a conference call with reporters that officials worked as an independent review panel while analyzing the school’s involvement and “did not attempt to be judgmental.”

The professor said the panel found MIT didn’t intentionally involve federal officials in the investigation. The Secret Service came with Cambridge police after MIT police asked for their help after the discovery of a laptop in a computer wiring closet, he said.

Abelson said MIT stayed neutral in the case, never making statements supporting the prosecution or the defense and never weighing in on potential punishments for Swartz. He said the university also declined to intervene with the U.S. attorney’s office on Swartz’ behalf after his family asked the school to do so.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif says the school’s decisions were “made in good faith.”

Swartz’s girlfriend, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, called MIT’s report a “whitewash” and said its behavior was “reprehensible.” She said MIT’s lawyers gave prosecutors total access to witnesses and evidence, while refusing to do the same for Swartz’s lawyers.

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